Pop Quiz: What led you into Skepticism?

Looking back, I can remember the exact moment I discovered the Skeptical Movement™. Mentally and emotionally exhausted from reading and discussing a lot of very fashionable but sloppily-thought-out scholarship in my discipline for a graduate seminar, I had settled into a nice afternoon of reading the internet when I stumbled over the controversy over Expelled, that horrific anti-Evolution “documentary” by Ben Stein. One thing led to another before I happened onto the SGU Episode where Rebecca and the rest of the crew interviewed PZ about his experience attending a screening.

Not long afterward, when Stein was slated to give the commencement address at UVM, I even started planning an official protest. While Stein “withdrew” before it came to that, planning the event did at the very least mark my first entrance into Skeptical activism (which basically constituted friending Rebecca on Facebook and asking her to spread the word). And then only five years later here I am writing for this blog!

When did you discover Skepticism? What route did you take? How do you participate in the movement?

The Pop Quiz is a question posed to you, the Scholars of Doubt. Look for it to appear Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 3pm ET.

Dan

Dan has a PhD in historical musicology and has taught music history and theory at a major Canadian university. He mainly studies music from the Italian Renaissance when he's not busy performing stand-up comedy or playing JRPGs with his cat, Roy. He occasionally tweets as @incontrariomotu and blogs about geeky stuff at The Otaku Skeptic. He is also the glorious editor-in-chief of School of Doubt.